The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for cooling a container and has particular, although not exclusive, relevance to such a cooling apparatus for use in a domestic environment for cooling wine bottles and the like.
Systems for cooling or chilling bottles of drink have long been known. On a basic level, a bottle to be chilled may be wrapped in a wet cloth. The latent heat of vaporisation of the water is obtained from the body of fluid within the container. This is a common technique for chilling wine bottles and the like on hot summer days.
More complex systems have been proposed, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,092 and GB-A 1,537,821.
The former document shows the use of a chamber containing cooling fluid. A bottle for chilling is placed into the container and partially immersed in the cooling fluid. A refrigeration system is provided to chill the cooling fluid to a temperature sufficiently low to allow rapid chilling of the bottle and its contents.
In the case of the latter document, a bottle for chilling may be placed upon a platform which is immersible in cooling fluid. Once again, a refrigeration apparatus is included to chill the cooling fluid to the required temperature.
Both the above documents, and other similar arrangements in the prior art, have a common feature of firstly chilling the cooling fluid itself to as low a temperature as possible thereby allowing rapid cooling of a bottle or other container. Furthermore, all of these systems include some form of refrigeration apparatus in order to chill the cooling fluid.
There exist various problems with the above approach, however. Such problems include the need to have a bulky system because of the use of a refrigerant apparatus to chill the cooling fluid itself. Common refrigerant systems include a heat exchanger, pump, expansion valves and the like. Furthermore, such a discrete refrigeration system needs to draw power from the mains or from a large battery supply.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4 825 665 a bottle is suspended in a container of iced water and the container is rotated.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5 005 378 a bottle is suspended in a bucket of ice and rotated by a hand drill like mechanism.
In each case there are substantial moving parts and laminar flow will be established around the bottle, reducing the cooling efficiency.
There exists, therefore, the need for a relatively small, simple, and lightweight unit which is simple to operate and transfer heat from the bottle and its contents to the iced water as quickly as possible.
It is thus an object of the present invention to at least alleviate the aforementioned shortcomings by providing cooling apparatus comprising a chamber for receiving a container to be cooled, the chamber arranged to contain cooling fluid for cooling the container within the chamber; the cooling fluid being a mixture of ice and water; the apparatus further comprising means for circulating the cooling fluid within the chamber. It has been found that, by providing a chamber which is able to retain a fluid mixture of ice and water and then circulating the fluid mixture around the container to be chilled, a rapid chilling of the contents of the container is achieved, particularly if turbulent flow is induced.
Preferably the apparatus includes a timer mechanism for controlling duration of the circulating means. Advantageously the chamber includes a thermally insulative wall to prevent heat transfer from the environment outside the chamber with the cooling fluid.
Advantageously the chamber includes a support member on which a container for cooling may be placed. Preferably the circulating means is housed below the support member.
In a preferred embodiment the circulating means is arranged to draw cooling fluid through a first portion of the support member and eject the drawn cooling fluid through a further portion of the support member. This allows directional control of the flow of cooling fluid within the chamber.
Preferably the chamber defines a cylinder and the circulating means drives the cooling fluid around the chamber so that the cooling fluid circulates around the container within the chamber. Preferably the flow of the cooling fluid is substantially turbulent.
Advantageously, the chamber includes a flared portion defining a carrying handle.
Advantageously the thermally insulative wall comprises a double-skinned wall of plastics material with air between the double skins.
Preferably the timer mechanism comprises an adjustable timer which may operate the agitation means when set and stop operation of the agitation means when timed-out.
Preferably the circulation means comprises a pump, which may be a submersible pump. The use of such a pump enables the fluid to be circulated around the chamber.
According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of cooling a container placed within a chamber comprising;
providing a mixture of ice and water within the chamber,
placing the container within the chamber so as to be at least partially immersed in the mixture;
agitating the mixture to circulate about the container.
Preferably the duration of agitation of the mixture is set in dependence upon the required degree of cooling of the container.
Advantageously agitation of the mixture is achieved by pumping the fluid around the chamber.
According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a cooling apparatus comprising: a chamber for receiving a container to be cooled and a quantity of ice and water for cooling the container, the chamber dimensioned to receive the container so that a defined space exists between the walls of the chamber and the container; means for circulating of the quantity of ice and water between the container and the chamber walls; and a timer mechanism for controlling operation of the circulating means.
Preferably the chamber is dimensioned to provide a clearance of from about 15 mm to about 50 mm around the side wall(s) of the intended container, more preferably from about 20 mm to about 40 mm, and more particularly about 25 mm to about 35 mm.
Other aspects and preferred features of the invention are set forth in the accompanying claims.